THE NARRATIVE – “Mitt gets personal,” by James Hohmann in Apopka, Fla.: “It took six years of running for president, but Mitt Romney has realized one month before the 2012 election that he cannot depend on family and surrogates to humanize him. … The Republican is using a three-day Florida swing to make a direct emotional appeal to voters. He is for the first time speaking more candidly to voters about his good deeds on behalf of others … Starting on Friday night, Romney devoted nearly one-third of his stump speech to telling three revealing and personal stories that have been related before by other Romney allies — his wife, his friends — but never by himself. It’s a dramatic, and seemingly intentional shift …

“One of the stories references Romney’s religion in a prominent way, something he has generally avoided. He spoke of ministering to 14-year-old leukemia patient David Oparowski as ‘Brother Romney’ when David questioned him about the afterlife (although the ‘Brother Romney’ reference was dropped in the second telling). The campaign has also been playing the biographical video from the [convention] that features home video from the Romneys’ private life. … The campaign realized that it had made a mistake playing the video before prime-time during the convention [in favor of] Clint Eastwood … [Officials have] begun playing it on big Jumbotrons set up at some Romney rallies, including here on Saturday night. At this rally outside Orlando, Romney auditioned to be healer-in-chief.” http://politi.co/RJybs0

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TOP CLICK: Romney literally clobbers Obama in the first debate, as depicted by Taiwanese animators. (hat tip: TVNewser)YouTubehttp://bit.ly/UtY2rR

CHASER – DAN BALZ “The Sunday Take” column on WashPost A2, “One week does not a campaign make”: “Has the 2012 election created a new model in which the battlegrounds perform differently than the national numbers? Ohio is the prime example this year. Until last week, the polling in Ohio showed Obama with a substantial lead — at least five or six points … Obama was enjoying a bigger lead in Ohio than he was nationally. That’s out of line with how Ohio has generally performed in relation to the national numbers. … States do change behavior. New Jersey is a classic example. It was once a true swing state, but in the 1990s it became, presidentially at least, a Democratic stronghold. …

“There’s no sign that Ohio is moving that dramatically. But is Ohio now becoming more like Michigan and Pennsylvania? Those two states are still nominally considered swing states but tilt more toward the Democrats, which is why Romney hasn’t been able to put them into play this fall. Have the effect of the auto bailout and now the drop in the national unemployment rate to go along with Ohio’s rate that is below the national average given Obama a boost in Ohio that changes the equation there? If that’s the case, it would have an outsized impact on the shape of the electoral map. Or will Romney’s debate performance help to snap Ohio back to its more traditional posture?” http://wapo.st/R7B0R3

THE MAP – “30 Days Out: Fundamentals Still Favor Obama,” by ABC’s Amy Walter: “Electoral map is shrinking, not expanding. Despite earlier predictions by the Romney campaign that they would be competitive in traditionally blue states like Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, they are putting no serious effort into any of them. Moreover, the Paul Ryan pick gave Romney only a short-lived bounce in Wisconsin. The latest polls in the Badger State show Obama with a healthy advantage in the state. This has left Romney has a very narrow path to 270, and no room for error. If Romney loses Ohio and Wisconsin, he would have no choice but to win almost every single other battleground state to win.” http://abcn.ws/R7ipEA

FOR YOUR RADAR –“ Israel Says Drone Origin Being Probed Amid Hezbollah-Link Report,” by Bloomberg’s Alisa Odenheimer: “Israel's army is looking into the origin and purpose of an unmanned aerial vehicle that was shot down yesterday over Israeli territory, the country's military said after a report that the drone was Hezbollah's. Israel Radio today cited unidentified Israeli army officials as saying the Lebanese Shiite Muslim group was responsible for the aircraft. Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S.”

--“Turkey fires artillery into Syria after shelling,” by Reuters’ Daren Butler in Istanbul: “Turkish forces fired across the frontier into Syria on Sunday after a shell launched from Syria landed in Turkey's border town of Akcakale … It was the fifth consecutive day of Turkish retaliation against incoming bombardment from northern Syria, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been battling rebels who control swathes of land close to the Turkish frontier. The continued exchanges are the most serious cross-border violence in Syria's revolt against Assad, which began in March last year with protests for reform but has evolved into a civil war with sectarian overtones which threatens to draw in regional powers.”

COMING ATTRACTIONS – ROBERT GIBBS, to David Gregory on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” re the next presidential debate: “[Y]ou're going to see a very engaged president that is ready and willing to call out whichever Mitt Romney shows up.”

--HILARY ROSEN, to David: “This actually is a president with a record beyond just digging us out of our jobs hole. … Going forward isn't just about the economy. Because people don't live in that binary world where they only care about the economy. Yes, it's the most important issue. But if you're a mom worried about your reproductive health and having to buy insurance separately from your family to pay for that, … that's an extra burden on your economic issues.

“If you're an immigrant … worrying about whether your family's going to be deported or your kid is going to be able to stay in high school, that's an extra burden that you have to worry about. If you're a gay or lesbian worried about whether you're going to get fired from your job because President Obama wants to protect your job and Mitt Romney doesn't, that's an extra thing you have to worry about. … I think Americans actually live in a very holistic world.”

--NEWT GINGRICH tells David the jobs report “was a significant help to the president. Imagine it had come out at 8.2 following that debate: … [P]eople would have entered this weekend saying, ‘Well, that's close to the end.’ … This campaign's going to go down to the end … It's going to be one of the most interesting campaigns in American history. … [Y]ou're going to see it go back and forth some over the next week. On the other hand, Friday, the International Monetary Fund said: Probably no recovery until 2018. Now that's a very sobering number.”

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, to Romney senior adviser Ed Gillespie, on ABC’s “This Week”: “PBS cited polls showing that it's the most trusted public institution and it only takes about 0.01 percent of the federal budget. You’re now seeing Big Bird show up at Mitt Romney rallies. Was it a mistake to target him?”

GILLESPIE: “[I]t wasn't … targeting -- it was just pointing to one example. … [A]s the father of three children, grown now, … any father who has gone to a toy store knows that Big Bird is a pretty commercially successful entity. And whether or not we should be subsidizing it … [Y]ou can cite, ‘Oh it's not that big a percentage of the budget.’ That's true. But every penny that you … raise as a potential cut seems to be sacred with this administration … And they demagogue it. And I think the American people understand this is a big election and a big choice.”

DAVID AXELROD, to Norah O’Donnell on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” re the president’s debate prep: “I think he went thinking this was going to be a discussion about this country’s future and he was confronted with this kind of Gantry-esque performance on the other side. Just serially rewriting history before his eyes.”

BOB SCHIEFFER: “What did you just say?”

AXELROD: “Gantry-esque.”

SCHIEFFER: “As in Elmer Gantry, the fictional evangelist.”

AXELROD: “Yes, thanks for -- to clarify.”

** A message from Walmart: Barbara -- a Walmart Mom from Las Vegas, NV -- explains that after watching this debate she wants to tune in again for more : “I’m waiting for the other two debates [to decide my vote]…This was such a good debate, imagine what the other two are going to be like.”

TOP STORY – Speaker “Boehner wary of lame-duck deficit deal,” by Jake Sherman in Depew, N.Y.: “‘I think that’s difficult to do,’ Boehner said [in an interview] when asked about the prospects for a large-scale deficit deal in November and December. … ‘[A]nd frankly, I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do -- have a lot of retiring members and defeated members voting on really big bills. Eh, probably not the appropriate way to handle the lame duck.’ Boehner’s remarks represent the most public … signal from the speaker about how he’s thinking about the lame-duck session of Congress. … Boehner isn’t saying nothing will get done … What he is saying is that he thinks is that the time is too short for something large – and more significantly, that he’s morally opposed to lawmakers with one foot out the door making decisions on behalf of the nation. … ‘Listen, I’m going to play whatever hand I’m dealt with,’ he said, when asked whether he could work with Obama if he’s reelected. ‘Period.’ …

“Some top Senate Democrats have suggested a possible framework that would set tax rate and spending targets but leave details to the key tax-writing committees. … The speaker’s comments came at a call center … funded by Boehner’s political team, the Republican National Committee and National Republican Congressional committee. … Boehner’s visit to this town outside Buffalo was on behalf of Chris Collins, who is running against Rep. Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.) in a newly drawn district. Wearing a bright red pullover on a brisk fall day, Boehner [spoke] on a flatbed truck with Collins and New York State GOP Chairman Ed Cox.” http://politi.co/VzY8x7

--WHAT THE AD DOESN’T SHOW – Cutter added: “[I]t's also not going to be the sum of $5 trillion in the loopholes that he's going to close. So it is going to cost someone and it's going to cost the middle class. Independent economists have taken a look at this. There aren't enough deductions for those at the top to account for the number of tax cuts that they get because of Mitt Romney's policies, so you have to raise taxes on the middle class.”

SWING STATE SUNDAY – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel banner, “Backers of Walker AND Obama are key voters,” by Craig Gilbert, D.C. bureau chief: “Surveys throughout the year have identified a small but steady fraction of Wisconsin voters who seemingly defy both the pessimism and polarization of the times in approving of two lightning-rod incumbents from opposing parties, Republican Gov. Walker and Democrat Obama. … Extensive, year-long polling by Marquette Law School [found] pro-Walker, pro-Obama voters comprise about one tenth of registered voters in the state. Compared to the rest of the electorate, they are a bit younger. They are more moderate and independent and less Republican. They are a little more likely to live outside the state’s big media markets. They are less likely to have suffered economic setbacks in the last two years.” http://bit.ly/SEPtZV

SENATE SCRAMBLE: “Senate battle hits Big Sky country,” by Manu Raju in Great Falls, Mont.: “Rep. Denny Rehberg sports black cowboy boots and drives a Jeep Wrangler with ‘RNCHR MT’ on his license plates. Sen. Jon Tester — a farmer himself — thinks Rehberg’s putting on an act. ‘He’s a land developer,’ Tester says dismissively. ‘Why are you trying to be something that you’re not?’ But Rehberg has a question of his own: ‘What percentage of the time does Jon Tester vote with Barack Obama?’ ‘95 percent!’ the Republican’s supporters shouted back at a campaign event here. As these two candidates crisscross the Big Sky State in the final month of a bitter … race that could decide the Senate majority, this is the essential question facing voters: Is Tester too much like Obama, or is Rehberg not a real Montanan? …

“The tactics employed in Montana are not unique to this sparsely populated state — a similar dynamic that pits likability versus ideology is playing out across the land. … [T]he race is virtually deadlocked ahead of three crucial debates, including one with a libertarian candidate whose ultimate influence on the race remains uncertain. About 45,000 ads have run on the airwaves since June, according to a Wesleyan University study last month, including about $10 million in outside spending flooding the cheap media markets here, with several attacking Tester’s position on the estate tax. And while Tester is banking on his likability, … polls show both men’s popularity slid amid an onslaught of negative ads, something that could hurt the Democrat’s chances to appeal to voters based on his personality.” http://politi.co/VAvQ5J

N.Y. TIMES “VOWS” COLUMN – “Patrick Abner and Thomas Roberts,” by Jacob Bernstein: “Thomas Roberts — a fairly down-to-earth guy and the 11 a.m. host of ‘MSNBC Live’ … in September 2000 … was 27, living in Norfolk, Va., working at an NBC affiliate, and not even fully out of the closet. A friend invited him to Charlotte, N.C., for a party one weekend … [T]he man in question, [was] Patrick Abner, also 27 … They were married on Sept. 29 [in Manhattan] … Gavin Newsom, the lieutenant governor of California, officiated after becoming a Universal Life minister for the event. Both grooms wore navy Ted Baker suits, each of their mothers read poetry, and the music afterward was almost loud enough to rival Twilo …

“Among the 170 or so guests at the reception was Sam Champion, the weather anchor at ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’ He took a turn on the dance floor with his partner, the photographer Rubem Robierb. ‘We’re getting married New Year’s Eve in Miami,’ Mr. Champion said in the spirit of the moment. Mr. Robierb corrected him: ‘We’ll do it here officially, and then have a party in Miami.’ On a deck, guests sipped Champagne and caught a September breeze. After stopping at the photo booth on the edge of the dance floor, Mr. Roberts, who turned 40 a few days after his wedding, looked out at the crowd in wonder.” http://nyti.ms/WBOSGU

SPORTS BLINK – COLLEGE FOOTBALL – AP: “That next edition of LSU-Alabama most likely won't be a 1 vs. 2 matchup. Florida made sure of that. The 10th-ranked Gators got their biggest victory yet under second-year coach Will Muschamp, beating the No. 4 Tigers 14-6 in Gainesville, Fla. … LSU and Alabama played twice last season as the Nos. 1 and 2 teams in the nation. … LSU was one of seven undefeated teams to fall Saturday. No. 11 Texas lost to No. 8 West Virginia, No. 5 Georgia lost at No. 6 South Carolina, and No. 3 Florida State was upset at North Carolina State. Iowa State handed No. 15 TCU its first loss, 37-23, to stop the Horned Frogs' 12-game winning streak, which had been the longest in major college football. Penn State made it four straight victories by beating No. 24 Northwestern 39-28.”

DESSERT – “Front-facing ads debut on NYC MetroCards” – AP: “Starting [today], some MetroCards sold at New York City subway stations will sport advertising on the front of the card. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority says the MetroCards are the first in more than 15 years to feature anything other than the familiar gold design with blue lettering spelling ‘MetroCard.’ The ad appearing on the new cards was purchased by the Gap and reads: ‘Be Bright NYC.’ The cards with Gap ads will be sold at 10 Manhattan subway stations. MTA Chairman Joseph Lhota said the agency will monitor public acceptance of the advertising to ensure that it doesn't ‘interfere with use of the transit system.’ [Oh, c’mon!] Lhota said the MTA must put every resource it can toward bolstering its finances.”

** A message from Walmart: What’s on the minds of Walmart Moms? Bi-partisan dial groups during Wednesday’s presidential debate showed Walmart Moms in Las Vegas saw the debate either as win for Romney or a tie. Mitt Romney’s image climbed 20 points while Obama’s moved just five. However, the deal is far from sealed for either candidate -- both still have work to do to truly connect with these moms on the issues that matter to them. See for yourself what they have to say at Walmartmomsresearch.com, in the latest Walmart Moms research done by Public Opinion Strategies (R) and Momentum Analysis (D).

****** A message from the Coalition for Affordable Prescription Drugs (CAPD): The high prices that drug makers set for prescription drugs can put financial strain on patients, employers, unions and others who provide health care coverage to more than 50 percent of Americans. Pharmacy benefit managers negotiate the lowest net price for prescriptions on behalf of employers, unions and government programs. But, as list prices – the starting point for those negotiations -- continue their nearly double-digit increases, the effects ripple throughout the system. The key to ensuring greater access and affordability lies in fostering greater competition. Facilitating faster reviews of generics and biosimilars, identifying off-patent drugs with little or no generic competition, and ending anti-competitive practices that keep safe, effective alternatives out of the market are also key to abating rising drug costs for patients. Learn more at affordableprescriptiondrugs.org******

Authors:

About The Author

Mike Allen is the chief White House correspondent for POLITICO. He comes to us from Time magazine where he was their White House correspondent. Prior to that, Allen spent six years at The Washington Post, where he covered President Bush's first term, Capitol Hill, campaign finance, and the Bush, Gore and Bradley campaigns of 2000. Before turning to national politics, he covered schools and local governments in rural counties outside Fredericksburg, Va., for The Free Lance-Star, then wrote about Doug Wilder, Oliver North, Chuck Robb and the Bobbitts for the Richmond Times-Dispatch, where he nurtured police sources on overnight ride-alongs through housing projects. Allen also covered Mayor Giuliani, the Connecticut statehouse and the wacky rich of Greenwich for The New York Times. Before moving to The Times, he did stints in the Richmond and Alexandria bureaus of The Washington Post. Allen grew up in Orange County, Calif., and has a B.A. from Washington and Lee University, where he majored in politics and journalism.